Monthly Archives: December 2009

Getting Clear on Finances to Begin the New Year

credit cardsYesterday I did all the dreaded administrative stuff I save to do until I can’t put it off any later in the year.  I mean, it being December 30th and all.  I spent 2.5 hours filling out a 250+ questionnaire for my merchant provider to make sure I have a secure system. I called my computer genius Chuck to help me through the techie parts.  The rest were pretty simple since I’m just one person and not a big company with networked system computers and other personnel.  I passed – yay!

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Happy New Year’s Eve Eve

Yesterday was a productive day.  After the Undercarriage Incident of last week, I took my car to Brian at B & B Automotive, referred by my pal Bo Frazer who also has a Toyota Prius.  It was neat seeing the car up on the rack, checking out what all was underneath.  It was easy to see how the undercarriage part fit together and how it had become free.  So Brian ordered the replacement part from Toyota and he can replace it for me next week.  I’d spoken to Brian first thing in the morning and he told me to stop by about 5pm and see if he had a lift free.  My spidey sense alerted me at 3:30 to get in the car and drive over there an hour early.  As I arrived, Brian said it was good timing, that he just now got a lift available.  I love it when I listen.

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I’m Still Seeking Referrals for Accurate Psychic Readers

2-9-14 reading at Book and Bead copyMost of you know that I publish Horizons (Florida’s new age magazine), and have a psychic reading practice as well. I am not doing them right now and need someone to refer appointments to for psychic readings (not spiritual counseling, not intuitive advice.) Someone who can give accurate, detailed info about what is happening now and predictions for the future. If you know someone consistently accurate, let me know. Here’s the deal: I get calls for far more readings than I can schedule. If you want to be considered for referral by clients who call me for a reading, this is what I need from you:  Give me a sample reading by Facebook message or email to horizonsmagazine@gmail.com on any area of my life.  For the sample reading:   Continue reading

Seeing My World Through Someone Else’s Eyes

A friend stopped by yesterday, and they’d never visited before so I had to take them on the tour.  I always like the chance to see my place with new eyes, as I do when I show it to a new visitor.  But it can also put me in that mode of doing a frantic show and tell, wanting them to not miss one magical thing; all the while knowing I may be the only one who sees enchantment of it all. I surprise myself by getting nervous with new visitors, mostly since my home is not decorated in typical style.  I never know what they really think of all the altars and art and guru/saint portraits, with the meditation area and the bookcases of books being the focal point.  I realized at the last minute that I had no sitting area where 2 people could sit and face each other to talk.  We’re usually all facing the same way during meditation, or in a circle on the floor, sitting on cushions.  I never presume that a new guest is comfortable sitting on the floor, so I quickly arranged a sitting area at a table, like normal people have. Continue reading

Tying Up The Loose Ends. Setting Change in Motion.

So, here you are at the end of 2009 and you have got about 3 days to tie up any loose ends you may have for the year. Lots of friends this year left their long time careers, sometimes without another job to go to. Many friends are also moving now, lots of nests being emptied, and lots of garbage, too! It seems to me that we’re getting less tolerant of the garbage in our lives and are taking active steps to toss it out, and this usually means big lifestyle changes. When we start working on getting rid of our garbage, there might be friends that drop out of the picture in the process as well.

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The Zen of Farmville on Facebook? WTF?

Facebook is an idle relaxation time for me, when I have a few moments free, but am not free enough to actually leave the computer.  It lets me check up on what real life friends are doing, when I don’t have time to telephone and visit with them.  It lets me feel I am in the social loop, even if I can’t attend the local events.  Lots of my Facebook friends I don’t know at all, but am glad to expand who I interact with to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints. A lot of them post motivational quotes, which I usually skip over unless they include a personal comment.  I’ve been reading one liners like that my whole life – I’m on Facebook to learn what someone else thinks, not to hear a rehashing.  Post a quote, but also comment on what made you choose that one, right now.  I mostly like to know what people are doing in their ordinary lives.  That’s what lets me get to know them and want to follow what they say.  Those are the people who are on my Facebook News Feed. Continue reading

Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender

Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender by Ria Misra:  The Supreme Court in Pakistan ordered that the government officially recognize a separate gender for Pakistan’s hijra community, which includes transgendered people, transvestites, and eunuchs. The court told the federal government to begin allowing people to identify as hijras when registering for a national identity card.  Not having an identity card, or having one with incorrect information, leaves a person vulnerable and easily excluded from society.  In India, voters are required to identify their sex both on their voter ID cards and at the polls. The insistence that they identify as male or female effectively barred many transgendered and transvestite people from the polls until late this year, when the government declared that for the purposes of voting it would recognize a third option.  In addition, a warning was issued that the hijras’ rights of inheritance would be enforced, and that police harassment would not be permitted, a sign, perhaps, of rulings to come. Continue reading

Keeping Track of Stacks of Books

One of my bookcases

One of my walls of bookshelves

Whew!  I just put 51 new books on the low shelves next to the reading nook.  I have lots of books. One way I keep track of them is to keep an ongoing list of all the titles, so in case I want to know if I have something, I can do a word search for it.  I have 589 on the list right now on Christmas 2009.  Actually, this number does not include the maybe 100 books of my own collection from before I began my list.  They get moved around quite a bit.  When books first arrive, I log them in and then I put them on the lower shelves by the main reading nook.  I have several areas for sitting and reading, all next to different bookshelves.  After each has been read, they move on to a more permanent location, typically by topic or author. Now if I could just keep track of where each title actually is, I’d be set.

The End of Death As We Know It

Talking in my sleep

I was napping earlier today and woke up talking on the phone to my friend Joy. Well, I thought I was anyway.  I purposely keep the phone (usually) where I have to walk to it answer it, but this time it was next to my big puffy chair, where I’d fallen asleep proof-reading.  I answered the phone automatically in my sleep. I thought I was making sense, saying real words. Apparently not.  I always tell friends, the wake-up trigger phrase if that happens is to ask me, “Are you awake? Do you want to wake up?” Continue reading